There are many more robust solutions available, but I have found this method to be very useful and allows me control over the error logging process. Since it is abstracted(?) enough I can make changes to the logging method without recoding other sections of the application.

* In Perl it is not as common to make a method completely private, as it may be in languages like Java. In most cases they are still acessible if you know they exist, that is why I prefer the "advertise" verbiage. Ways to make a method private can be found in other nodes, but I didn't bother to look them up because this node is about logging not private vs. public methods.